A Kick in the Teeth Always Hurts – No Matter Who You Are
I can't help but feel sad for a guy that I've been working with for over seven years. Yesterday, he was "let go" by the trading-side of the business, and then offered a job on the development-side of the shop. Don't get me wrong, I think he'll be a fine developer. But getting that one-two punch in the gut yesterday had to hurt. I don't care who you are.
We can all be pushed to our limits and show our less wonderful sides to people. It's what happens. Stress causes us to get more "kill or be killed" and that, in turn, suppresses our kindness and tolerance for others, and we show a face to others we might not want to show. It's happened to me, it'll happen again. It's happened to this guy, and it had to be a contributing factor in his getting released from the business-side.
The reason I feel for this guy is that becoming a developer for him now is a nice landing, but it's like having once been a Vegas Headliner and then going back to teach elementary school kids how to sing and dance. It's a huge blow to the ego. I don't care who you are.
Some may certainly get over it faster than others, but we're still in the first 24 hrs. and that's definetely in the "ouch" phase of this particular life-lesson. I just wonder if management is really thinking he's going to stick this demotion out. Sure, the economy is not strong, but this is the financial sector, and there always seems to be jobs out there - someone is making money. If not on the market, then on the volatility. So I wonder if he's going to stick it out.
I hope he finds what he's looking for. Whatever that is.